Born at Mont César, Louvain, in 1166; died November 24, 1192; cultus confirmed
1613. Albert, son of Duke Godfrey III of Brabant and his wife Margaret of
Limburg, was raised for a life in the Church in a castle on what is now called
Mont-César. At age 12 he was made a canon of Liège, but renounced his benefice
when he came of age.

At age 21, Albert
attached himself as a knight to the entourage of his enemy Count Baldwin V of
Brabant. When the papal legate preached the crusade in Liège a few months
later, Albert took up the cross, and at the same time took up his canonry
again. He never participated in the crusade, instead the subdeacon was quickly
promoted to archdeacon, then provost.

In 1191 (age 25),
Albert was overwhelmingly chosen bishop of Liège by the chapter over another
archdeacon, Albert of Rethel, who was cousin to Baldwin and the uncle of
Empress Constance. His election was opposed by Emperor Henry VI who favored his
wife's uncle. When the cause was heard at Worms, the emperor gave the see to Lothaire,
provost of Bonn, whom he had just made imperial chancellor in return for 3,000
marks.

In order to appeal
to Rome, Saint Albert had to travel circuitously and covertly under the guise
of a servant so as to avoid interception by the emperor's men. Following Pope
Celestine III's confirmation of the election, Albert returned to Liège, but
found Lothaire already intruded in the see and that Archbishop Bruno of Cologne
was unwilling to incur the wrath of the emperor by consecrating Albert.
Meanwhile the pope had made arrangements for Archbishop William of Rheims to
ordain and consecrate Albert. This was accomplished at Rheims on September 29,
1192.

When war appeared
immanent between the emperor and Albert's uncle over his consecration, the
saint opted to remain in exile rather than precipitate a war. Still the emperor
was not satisfied. He forced the submission of Albert's clerical supporters
before leaving Liège for Maestricht to hatch another plot against the lawful
bishop. Just 10 weeks after his consecration, Saint Albert was murdered by
three German knights as he was making a visit to the abbey of Saint-Remi
outside the walls of Rheims. He was buried with honor in the cathedral
(Benedictines, Walsh).

In art Saint Albert
is depicted as a bishop with a knife in his head or with three swords on the
ground before him. (He is easily confused with Thomas a Becket (of Canterbury),
whose martyrdom was similar.) Sometimes he is shown as an enthroned cardinal
holding a palm, three swords before him, or as a cardinal protecting the
Archduke Albert (Roeder).

Archdeacon
and provost of Brabant.
Bishop of Liege in 1191. Albert of Rethel, cousin of Count Baldwin and uncle of the Empress Constance, wife of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI, had sought
the episcopacy. He appealed to the emperor for help; Henry removed
Albert from the position and made a third candidate, Lothaire, who was the provost
of Bonn, Germany, the new bishop of Liege. Albert then appealed to the Vatican, both for himself and to
help clearly establish the Pope‘s supremacy in the matter. Celestine III declared Albert’s election valid, and returned him to Liege. Lothair refused to surrender the see; Henry backed him, and forced the priests in the diocese
to submit to Lothair.

Cardinal
and knight, the son of Duke Godfrey III of Brabant and brother of Henry I, duke
of Lorraineand Brabant. At the age of twelve he was made a canonof
Liege, France, but resigned from that priestly honor at the age of twenty-one
to become a knight of Count BaldwinV, an enemy of Brabant. Albert proposed going on a crusade but did not
do so, instead resuming his clerical life. He became a canonagain
and then was named thebishop
of Liege. His appointment did not please Count Baldwin, who had one of his own
relatives in mind. He appealed to Emperor Henry VI, who deposed Albert and
appointed Lothair to the see. In turn, Albert appealed to Rome, and Pope Celestine
IIIdeclared his appointment valid. While in Rome, Albert was
recommended to Reims, where he was ordained and made a cardinalby archbishopWilliam of Reims. The baffle for political control of Liege continued,
and in time
took a deadly toll. On November 21 or 24, a group of knights from Emperor
Henry's court approached Albert, who greeted them with his customary
gentleness. As he turned to ask them their purpose, he was stabbed to death.
Lothair was excommunicated and exiled for his role in the denial of Albert as
the true bishop of Liege. EmperorHenry VIwas forced to make public penance
for the actions of his knights. Albert's body was taken to the cathedralof Reims, where it reposed until 1612. Then Archduke Albert of Austria
had the remains transferred to the chapelof the new Carmelite conventhe had founded in Brussels. In 1822, part of Albert's remains were given
to the cathedralof Liege.

Birth. Ca. 1166, Louvain (now Belgium). Second of the two sons of Duke Godefroy
III of Basse-Lorraine and his first wife, Margareta van Limburg; brother of
Henri I, duke of Brabant; nephew of Duke Henri III de Limbourg and Count Albert
III von Dagsberg. Cousin of Cardinal Simon de Limbourg (1195). He is also listed as Albert de Brabant,
Albert of Lowen, Adalbero of Louvaine, Albert de Liège and Albert von Lüttich.

Education. As a child, he was dedicated to the church and
studied in the school of the cathedral of Saint-Lambert, Liège.

Early life. Canon prebendary of the cathedral chapter of
Saint-Lambert of Liège ca. 1178. In 1187, when the news of the fall of
Jerusalem reached Liège, he resigned his offices, took the cross and was
knighted at Valenciennes. In 1188, he was restored to the ecclesiastical state
by Cardinal Henri de Marsiac, O.Cist., papal preacher of the crusade; and
became archdeacon of Liège in that same year; and later, provost of the
collegiate churches of Saint-Pierre and Saint-Jean in Liège. Received the
subdiaconate in 1191.

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Liège by the overwhelming
majority of its cathedral chapter, September 8, 1191 although he had not
reached the canonical age of thirty; all the other archdeacons, clergy, people
of the city and princes of the land, consented to his election; Count Badouin
de Hainaut, enemy of Duke Henri of Bavant, opposed the election of Albert de
Louvain and, with a handful of canons, elected Albert de Rethel, provost of
Liège. The dispute was brought up before Emperor Heinrich VI; at the Diet of
Worms, on January 13, 1192, the emperor referred the matter to a committee of
ten bishops and three abbots; the committee decided that since the see was
clearly in dispute, it fell to the emperor to appoint a bishop; the emperor
appointed Lothaire von Hochstaden, provost of Bonn; Albert of Louvain strongly
protested and indicated that he would appeal to Rome; Albert de Rethel
indignantly refused a financial settlement offered by the emperor; he went to
Rome; the majority of the electors of Liège accepted the imperial decision
because of the emperor's threat; Albert de Louvain arrived in Rome on April 5,
1192 and presented the matter to Pope Celestine III; the pope welcomed him,
heard his case and presented it to the Roman Curia; some of the cardinals
recommended caution but the majority supported Albert's claim; the pope
accepted the decision and, in the Lateran palace, confirmed Albert's election after
Pentecost 1192.

Cardinalate. Created cardinal deacon in a consistory in May
1192; no information has been found concerning his deaconry.

Sacred orders. Ordained deacon by Pope Celestine III in Rome on
May 30, 1192; the pope wrote to Archbishop Bruno of Cologne (metropolitan of
the bishop of Liège), asking him to consecrate Albert as bishop of Liège, and
authorized the archbishop to delegate the consecration to the archbishop of
Reims, if he feared to perform the ceremony himself; another letter went to the
archbishop of Reims explaining the situation and authorizing him to consecrate
a bishop from outside his jurisdiction; the pope also wrote to the chapter of
Liège indicating his decision, asking them to support Albert and absolving them
from the oaths to Lothair. Albert departed from Rome and by July 31, he was in
the abbey of Lobbes in Brabant; from there he went to the monastery of Nivelles
and then traveled to one of the fortresses of his uncle the duke of Limberg; in
August or early September, the duke accompanied his nephew to Reims. Albert was
ordained priest on Saturday September 19, 1192, in Reims, by Cardinal Guillaume
aux Blanches Mains, archbishop of Reims. He received the episcopal consecration
the following day from the same archbishop; he celebrated his first mas on
September 21 in the cathedral of Reims. The new bishop remained in Reims the
next two months; in October, three German knights arrived in Reims and became
acquaintances of the bishop of Liège and won his trust on November 24, the knights
persuaded Albert to take a horse ride with them outside the city walls; the
three knights attacked the bishop with their swords, struck him on the head
crashing his skull and making him fall to the ground, where they again attacked
him to make sure that they had killed him and then escaped.

Death. November 24, 1192, assassinated by three German
knights near Reims, in the route to Nogent-l'Ablesse. Buried in the
metropolitan cathedral of Reims. The question of who was ultimately responsible
for of the bishop's death remains unanswered. His biography, Vita Alberti
episcopi Leodiensis, was written, in 1194 or 1195, by a contemporary, who
was a monk and secretary of the abbot of Lobbes (1).

Beatification. In 1612, at the request of Archduke Albert of Brabant,
who wanted to have his body in Brussels, the king of France and the archbishop
of Reims allowed the translation of the relics of Albert to Brussels; they were
exhumed on October 20 and transferred to that city (by error, it was the
remains of Archbishop Odalric of Reims that were taken to Brussels; the error
of the canons of the cathedral chapter of Reims may be explained by the several
modifications that had taken place in the cathedral building) on November 22;
they were solemnly received on December 11 and deposited in the church of the
Carmelites. On August 9, 1613, Pope Paul V authorized his veneration in Reims
and Brussels and inscribed him in the Roman Martyrology on November 21, which
is believed was the anniversary of his death; he is listed as a martyr who died
for the defense of the Church. On September 26, 1919, in the excavations of the
cathedral of Reims, which had been devastated during the First World War,
Architect Henri Deneux found the real tomb of St. Albert of Liège; the relics
were recognized by a commission named by Cardinal Louis-Henri Luçon, archbishop
of Reims; the commission met on December 10, 1920 and August 18, 1921; the body
was exhumed and, after the remains of Archbishop Odalric were transferred from
Belgium on November 17, 1921, the relics of St. Albert were taken to Brussels
the following November 19; they were accompanied by Jan van Cauwenbergh,
titular bishop of Sinao, auxiliary and vicar general of Malines, and by
Sébastien Braun, Benedictine of Maredsous, and given directly to Cardinal
Desiré Mercier, archbishop of Malines; the cardinal donated a relic (an arm) of
the saint to King Albert I of Belgium; and another relic to Reims, to Cardinal
Luçon, on November 9, 1925.